Friends Forever

This may sound kind of odd, but this one picture from Josh's party kind of depresses me. You'd think by the smiles on the faces of these kids, that it would be a picture that you'd treasure and carefully store away in the photo album so that one day you could look back at it with fond memories. But, after showing this pic to Josh, he shared with me that he and his friends here- Alex and Maceo- have all promised each other that they would be friends forever. Each morning as I dropped Josh off at school, little Alex would be there waiting for him- probably to take him aside to plot out which dragons they would slay that given day; and then in the afternoons, there would be Josh hanging with his other buddy Maceo probably stroking each other's Pre-K male egos and wondering what kind of mischief they could get into before the day's end....friends forever, such a simple wish.

I remember making those same promises when I too was in school. But as I look at my circle of friends whom I now hang around with, none of them are from my grade school days...and very few from my high school, college, and even early career days at Hoban- not exactly something that I'm proud of. As my life has changed and taken different paths over the years, so have the friends, who at the time I too thought would always be a part of my life. Now, they're all just distant memories depicted on a few photographs that I've kept through the years.

Having watched Josh open his birthday gifts over the past 6 years, I'd package them all away in a heart beat for the opportunity to give my son his simple wish to remain lifetime friends with these two little guys. The odds are against this ever happening, but Josh has a heart of gold, and it wouldn't surprise me if these 3 Pre-k musketeers stuck around each other for a while...or maybe even forever.